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Friday, April 4, 2014

UPS firings. Shut down NYC. No more Patco's.

We reported on the situation in NYC with regards to the UPS dispute. UPS has
fired 250 workers who staged a 90-minute protest at the Malspeth (Queens) distribution center in February to
defend a fellow worker that was fired over a dispute over hours worked.

From what FFWP can gather, 20 workers have been fired and
the remaining workers that supported the walkout will be fired as soon as
replacement workers are trained to take their jobs. The Union, Teamster Local
804, says that UPS claims it can fire the workers that walked off the job anytime
they want. There is a flyer from local
804 here.

UPS is claiming that the fired worker, Jairo Reyes clocked
in before his shift and alleges he was paid for hours he never worked. Reyes
said he had permission to do so.Reyes
is a 24-year veteran of UPS and a known union activist. He claims he was fired
for his union activity including recent grievance filings over work hours for
senior employees according to the media.

The union’s website claims that Reyes’ firing violated the
contractual agreement between 804 and UPS that allows terminated workers to
remain on the job while a hearing takes place at which a worker can defend
themselves.The Union describes it as "innocent until proven guilty"
clause.

A hearing of such was held and Reyes’ termination was upheld
according to a report from Business
Insider.After that, Reyes and 250
other workers walked off in protest.There is a video of Reyes and a union official speaking at a meeting of
these workers in the UPS
parking lot here.

All this is secondary at this point.To this writer’s knowledge, UPS is still
holding fast to its position that the workers will be fired.As the union official stresses in the video
taken in the UPS parking lot Local 804 leadership is demanding UPS deal with the issue through
negotiations.In the video the union
official is telling workers to return to work, a message he brings from the
president of the local. The union leadership is making it quite clear to the
bosses it will not build on the stoppage saying, “Local 804
remains committed to resolving this dispute through negotiations.”

At a rally this morning at City Hall numerous public figures
spoke in support of the fired workers demanding UPS rescind the firings.A number of officials from the ATU, CWA, the
SEIU and the New York Central Labor Council also spoke."We
stand behind our union brothers and sisters as they continue the fight to keep
their jobs." said Vincent
Alvarez, president of the Labor Council.

This is the most commonly used phrase when top officials
speak at rallies like these when workers are in trouble. Top officials of unions and Central Labor
Bodies have been “standing behind” every
defeat we have suffered over the past 40 years.

The entire approach of the leadership is what we have come
to expect, appeal to Democratic Party politicians to put pressure on the
employer. This may or may not work but UPS has a $43 million contract with the
State of New York and also gets huge breaks from the city that reduce parking
fines by millions annually.

The reason for this orientation to liberal politicians of
the 1% is that the alternative from the point of view of labor’s hierarchy
would be worse as it would definitely work but create problems for them.

What should actually happen is that the heads of NYC unions and
the Central Labor Body should immediately announce they will be organizing to
shut down the economic life of New York City by next Monday if UPS does not
immediately rescind all firings. It could be announced that the unions are also
demanding all the giveaways they have handed over to the bosses over the past
20 years and that more jobs are needed.

My former union, AFSCME has its largest district council in
NYC DC 37 with 120,000 members affiliated to it.The Teamsters, Teachers, the ATU whose
members operate the transit system as well as the ILA that represents
dockworkers and numerous other unions have members in crucial positions in New
York City’s labor force.

The union has organized an online petition signing that Move
On is also circulating but this doesn’t frighten the bosses at all.The union leadership dreads nothing more than
the active and conscious intervention of their own members in these struggles.
The thought of a victory terrifies them, as it would inspire millions of
workers tired of defeats and being kicked around by confident bosses. It would
transform the balance of class forces as workers would see what actually works
and would not want to stop there.

It would threaten the relationship the union bureaucracy has
built with the employers based on labor peace and the Team Concept.

The anger that exists beneath the surface of society and in
the ranks of organized labor must not find expression and appealing to elected
officials and important people is one way of trying to prevent any movement
from below developing within their ranks, a movement that the leadership will
not be able to control.

The union leadership will do everything they can to prevent
the anger and feelings Reyes expresses in the above video from being
generalized.The action these workers
took is what works and rather than appealing for them to return to work a
fighting leadership would be helping to mobilize link these workers with other
Teamsters, other union members and the communities in which they live and work.

Even if UPS backs down as the Wall Street politicians
reacting to the workers’ anger puts some heat on them that might threaten their
contract workers will recognize that the real locomotive that moved this train
were the 250 that walked off the job for 90 minutes in support of their fired
brother. It is out of developments like
these that new leadership can arise.

They walked away from their "duties" in support of an unjust firing. This is an example of the anger and frustration and willingness to fight that exists among the membership of unions everywhere and that is managed and controlled from the top.Whose rules are we playing by anyway?What is a fair hearing anyway?If every worker or group of workers who walks off the job in support of "fair hearings" " is deemed as "choosing to quit" then we might as well just give up the struggle.